Normal Pizza, Fast and Quick

Start of a month long update. First up, we have some really quick pizza. Now I know everyone loves fresh pizza but who has the time to make pizza dough and sauce from scratch?? If you do that is great. I love making pizza from scratch when I have the time, but most often when you get back after a long day you want something quick and satisfying. So here is a pizza with premade crust and premade sauce that you can make within about 30 minutes. Oh and you can embellish it in any way you wish, as you don't have to add exactly what I put on my pizza.

Ingredients:
1 premade pizza crust (again I like Bobali)
1 packet/jar of premade sauce maybe the equivalent of about 1/2-3/4 a cup. (This time I tried Trader Joe's pizza sauce and it was the best I've had. If you know my best friend Ashlee and I, it is good enough to eat straight out of the jar.)
A few handfuls of mozzarella cheese
1 chicken breast
salt and pepper
2 sausages (can be cooked or uncooked)
1 onion
a bunch of jalapenos

I also like to add sun dried tomatoes when I have them.

Now I didn't take that many pictures so bare with me. I will try to explain to the best of my abilities.

First, take your chicken breast and cut it into bite size pieces. So to do this you want to make sure you have a sharp knife first of all because it makes cutting a slippery piece of meat much easier. Then I usually like to cut horizontally on the chicken, so my knife is parallel to the short side of the chicken. I like to start with the skinner end of the chicken and then do about a half inch slice. For when I am just cooking regular food I usually do about 1/2 inch by 1 inch pieces (the height would be however thick the chicken is for that piece), but for chicken I usually try to do about 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch since it is easier to eat that way. You don't want to have this giant piece of chicken you cant get in your mouth when you are eating your pizza now do you. After you slice your chicken place it in a skillet (preferably non-stick, if not make sure you stir/move the chicken around more often otherwise it will get stuck). Then salt and pepper your chicken, so about 4-5 grinds of the pepper shaker per side (so the top then move the chicken around and call the next side the bottom), and then about 1/4 teaspoon of salt (do the top bottom thing I described with the pepper with the salt as well).

While the chicken is cooking cut up your onion in to strips. Explanations in previous posts. Once your chicken is done cooking, it will be opaque and no longer giggly. And yes that sounds like the most horrible explanation ever but basically it will look like you want to eat it and not be pink or clearish any more.

If you choose to make sausage as well cook it in the skillet with the chicken. I usually get uncooked turkey Italian sausage so it will be no longer opaque and giggly like the chicken when it is done.

Then take the chicken out of a skillet and put it in a bowl. Try to leave as much of the chicken juices in the pan as possible. Then toss in the onions and cook them until they are starting to get soft.

Finally start assembling your pizza. Slather on your sauce for starters. Now ever since I was a little girl my bestest friend from first grade (Ashlee) and I have always loved sauce, so we put a whole bunch of it on meaning there should be a thin layer over the whole pizza to the point where you cant see the crust through the sauce. However in a realistic world not everyone likes that amount of sauce, so as a safe bet I would say to start with no more than 1/4 cup of sauce and see how you feel. It is really an eyeball sort of thing because you may or may not be a sauce person and when you see the sauce on the pizza you will just know "I want that much sauce!"

Then sprinkle some cheese. Do maybe 1/4 cup of that too. For this part you still want to be able to see the sauce under the cheese, not like giant gaps but maybe little lady bug sized holes between the cheese. The purpose for this is that you will put the rest of your cheese on top because then it holds everything on your pizza. Cheese = glue for a pizza.

Then add your chicken, sausage if using, and onions. Spread them out evenly of course unless you have some one who is picky then don't put them on the part that person will eat. Lastly add your jalapenos and then the rest of your cheese.

Pop the pizza in the oven for typically about 8 or 9 minutes to start. If the crust is starting to get nice and brown and hard lift up the pizza slightly with a knife or something because you don't want it to be super saggy in the middle. If the pizza lifts mostly with the knife rather than trying to sag back down, then your pizza is done. If not leave it in for another minute or two.

Take out your pizza, let it cool for a couple minutes, slice, and then serve!

Photos coming soon, but more importantly I got to get a Kung Pao Chicken recipe typed for my starving brother. :)

Tammy And Rachel's Favorite Quiche

Hello again. So a few weeks ago I made a quiche that Tammy found on one of her favorite blogs that she likes to visit. We tried it during Spring and liked the original idea so much that we made two quiches the first time. This time I only made one, but it is pretty easy if you want to devote a little extra time to your dinner. Sorry Lien but this one requires an oven. :(

Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Quiche:

1 frozen pie crust (unless you want to make your own)
2 large red bell peppers (I used green and yellow since I already had them)
1 large red or yellow onion (sliced)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of oregano/fresh thyme/italian seasoning (I've used all three the times I have made this)
4-6 slices of procuitto
6 oz. goat cheese
1 cup cream
2 eggs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Start by preheating the oven to 400 degrees. Then put the peppers in a pan with edges and place them in the oven. After about 10 minutes they should be starting to brown on the top, turn them over and brown the new side another 10 minutes. Depending on your oven though it could take less than ten minutes or more so check it every so often. Continue rotating your peppers until you have all the sides blackened. Then take them out of the oven to cool while you start the onions on the stove. The peppers should look like this:



Then turn the oven to 375 degrees to preheat to bake the quiche. Then place you sliced onion in a skillet with the olive oil. Refer to previous recipes for how to slice an onion. Cook for a few minutes and then add salt and pepper to taste (which means like 1/4 a teaspoon of each MAX!) and the thyme or other seasoning you have chosen. Then cook until the onions are beginning to caramelize, so when they are very translucent. They should look like this while they are cooking:


While the onions are cooking on the stove though, you can peel and slice your bell peppers though. To do this the skin should peel right off and it will look like this in comparison to the pepper with its skin on. That picture is followed by a picture of a skinned bell pepper while I am slicing it.


To dice the bell pepper cut it in to sections length wise. Then make strips on the length of the bell pepper. As you can see I usually dice my bell pepper but that is really just a personal preference.

Once you are done with the bell pepper and have turned the heat off of your onions start with the cream and egg mixture. This is really just a cup of cream and two eggs put together in a bowl. Stir it up, breaking the egg yolks, and then add some salt and pepper, again to taste so only a little bit like I said before. Here are a before and after picture.


Then mix you onions, peppers, in another bowl and tear your prosciutto into little pieces and add. Also add your grated Parmesan cheese. It should look like this:


The add it to the pie crust in its pan. Then crumble your goat cheese on top. I love goat cheese so I always add extra but you don't have to. After you add the goat cheese pour your cream and egg mixture on top. If it starts to look like it is going to over flow that's okay, and stop pouring the cream mixture in. It really depends on the pan you have your pie crust in, some have higher sides than others. Here is that sequence in photos:


Place your quiche in the oven and then bake it for about 25 minutes to start. You want your quiche to be starting to get nice and browned over the whole top. So in total it should be about 25-35 minutes. Then let it cool for about 5 minutes, cut it up, serve, and enjoy.

Here is what it looks like when it is done:

How not to screw up your pasta (+ pasta salad dressing recipe)

by Guest Writer vlossy

1. Buy normal looking pasta. If you end up buying some multigrain kind of pasta and it tastes funny, then most likely, it's not your fault. Kudos for trying to be healthy, but just get the regular stuff.

2. Buy pasta you like. Don’t get angel hair if you don't like angel hair. Personally, I like food that I can chew, so I go with penne or linguini

The Pot

1. Make sure it's big enough (if you threw your pasta in there dry, and it fills up halfway, not a good sign. I’d say it should fill up less than a quarter of the pot, but ask Rachel and Tammy for more advice). Btw, it’s just water first.

2. Add water and make sure it's enough.

I never know how many actual cups of pasta I’m making, so I never know how many cups of water I need. I usually fill the pot a little more than halfway. If you don't have enough water, you can always add more later. If you have too much water, you can always take some out. The only problem is you'd have to keep watching your pot to make sure no disasters happen.

Water does not have to be filtered unless there's some real bad stuff in the water (as in, it's unregulated or something)

You’re not drinking the water, so it should be fine. Plus you're boiling it.

Tip: start with hot water from faucet. Makes heating it up faster bc there's already some kinetic energy in there!

3. Takes maybe 15 minutes at most to boil half a decent sized saucepan of water? Less if water starts hot. No need to turn on burner to full heat. You can start it there, then lower it as you get closer to boiling. Don’t cook your pasta at full heat bc chances are, your water’s gonna boil over. If it does boil over, immediately add cold water, then use a cup (preferably ceramic mug with a handle. Don’t use glass stuff) to pour some water out so it doesn’t overflow again, and turn the heat down so it’s not bubbling like crazy.

Adding pasta

1. If you're using long noodle pastas, I’d advise breaking it in half before sticking it in. It’s easier to manage (otherwise you end up trying to stuff it into the pot) and much easier to serve (you won't have to stand up out of your chair to see the end of your noodle). Just take a bunch (see step 2 for serving size), hold it with both your hands a few inches from the middle, and snap! (no need to judo chop, but you may use your knee for dramatic effect as long as you don't mind scattering pasta over your floor).

2. Serving size for long noodle pastas

Take a bunch of pasta, and make a ring with your thumb and index finger around it. If the diameter is about that of a quarter, it should be about 1.5 servings, I think. It’s about one serving for me, but I kind of eat a lot. I don't know what to tell you for short pasta... read the box?

If you're hungry and can eat pasta, make a bunch about the diameter of a 50 cent piece. If you have leftover, you can always store it in Ziploc bags for later. Makes for quick eating next time. And if you warm it up with your pasta sauce, you can hardly tell!

3. Snap the bundle in half over the pot (or do in smaller bundles if your total bundle is too thick to do this in one go). Toss pasta in, and make sure it's all completely submerged. Adding more uncooked pasta a few seconds to about a minute into cooking is ok.

4. STIR! Unless you like big clumps of chewy noodles stuck together, stir your pasta! It’s not hard, it's just kind of annoying, but it'll be better for it. If you forget to stir, you can kind of stir at the end of cooking and break apart some of the clumps, but be prepared for the possibility of chewy clumps (yumm)

5. Don’t leave your pasta unattended. You can read next to the kitchen or something if you need to. Give it 10 min max (from the time you throw pasta in) if you're going to risk leaving it alone. Anything longer than 10 minutes could be sucky.

I try to not leave my pasta for more than a few minutes at a time. Maybe 5 max. General rule, do not leave your cooking unattended. And if you’re scatterbrained like me, put an alarm on your phone or something.

6. Is it done? I use wood chopsticks bc they grab noodles best and you can control them better than a fork. Pick up a noodle from the batch while it’s still cooking. If you pick one up and it’s not bending around all the way, like it’s still stiff, put it back and keep cooking. Otherwise: Cool it off by blowing on it or run it under cold water (probably not a good idea if your water’s not dependable). Try it. Is the consistency alright? If it’s kind of hard in the middle, let it cook longer. If it’s really soft and mushy when you try it, you’ve overcooked it. Some people like their pasta overcooked, some like it undercooked. Figure out which you like better. And don’t undercook just because you’re impatient.

7. it’s done! Great, it’s done. Get a colander/strainer out. Now, very carefully, pour out some water into the sink or strainer (try to avoid having glassware in the sink while you do this. Hot water + cold glass don’t mix well at all). Just pour out enough so that you can comfortably pour the rest into the strainer you have ready. Don’t go too fast, and try to position the strainer so you don’t have to be holding it while you’re pouring the hot water/pasta. Ok now rinse the pasta in the strainer with cold water. I don’t exactly know what this does other than cool it off, but a lot of ppl do it? Maybe it keeps the pasta from sticking? If your water’s really fishy, you could probably leave this step out. Set aside.

And then prepare whatever other fixings (like pasta sauce).

If you have salad like trader joe’s spring mix salad, this mix works really well.

Here’s what spring mix looks like:

http://www.markon.com/html/productsearch4.aspx?pageid=11&prodsubid=465&catid=3&subcatid=30&mem_id=3&submem_id=5

http://www.freshexpress.com/products/productdisplay.asp?cat=bb&salads=5

Take rinsed salad (rinse veggies in cold water unless you want your salad cooked) and mix it in with your pasta (I use linguini for this). Add red pepper (thinly sliced) and red onion (actually looks purple) into the salad

To make the dressing, mix all this stuff together:

1 Lime (just need to squeeze out however much juice you want)

2 Tablespoons, Balsamic Vinegar

4 Tablespoons, Olive Oil

1 teaspoon Salt

2 teaspoons sugar or honey power

I don’t know how feasible that is to make for you, Lien (as in, don’t know how easily accessible all these ingredients are), but you can try variations on the theme? Hope some of this helps.

Stir-fried Beef with Snow Peas

Here is something quick and easy to make.

1 pound of beef
3 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 pound snow peas
4 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup oyster sauce

1. Slice the beef against the grain as thinly as you can. If your meat was frozen and thawing, it's easier to slice the meat thinly when it's semi-frozen. Mix with corn starch (you could probably use flour too, but I've never tried it) and sesame oil. Refrigerate overnight. If you are in a hurry, maybe one hour is okay. Or use it immediately, tell me how it turns out.

2. Snap the end of each pea, pulling the strings off.

3. Smash garlic into large chunks against the blade of a knife. You could mince it if you wanted too...this is just what my mom insisted.


4. Heat oil in a pan, and cook the garlic on medium until it is browned.


5. Change your heat to high. Add your beef and stir-fry continuously until the beef is halfway cooked.


6. Add your oyster sauce and snow peas. If there doesn't seem to be enough oyster sauce, add some more. My mom kind of took over the cooking (she does that a lot) so I'm estimating the amount of oyster sauce she added. Mix often until the snow peas are cooked. The snow peas will darken in color.



And...devour! I love the veggies because they are still a little crunchy. My mom loves the bits of browned garlic.

Chicken with Mirepoix Ragout

Hello everybody! How are you? Good I hope. I just started this exercise routine and I hope that I will stick to it: I jog/walk for four miles M W F. It's been really good to jog, especially since I'm not in school anymore, where all of my exercise came from walking everywhere. I also took my NCLEX for the second time today. I didn't really feel good about it...the computer logged me off at 75 questions, and last time it was 77. I'm expecting to fail but I will keep my hopes up.

Anyway...you came here for the food! I made this dish because we have celery and carrots sitting in the fridge. I went to a cooking website using those ingredients as the search terms and came up with chicken with mirepoix ragout. (It's from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Braised-Chicken-Breasts-in-Tasty-Mirepoix-Ragout if you want to see the original recipe). It's chicken that has been floured, browned in a pan, and cooked with veggies and a wine sauce. I tried to use crumbs instead of flour and attempted to get rid of these Triscuits that I don' t want anymore. I figured it would be good because the crackers are flavorful and whole-grain. I also made mashed potatoes to go along with this.

Mashed potatoes

5 large potatoes
1/2 cup of milk
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Chicken with mirepoix ragout

1 chicken breast, sliced
15 Triscuit crackers, crushed
1/2 onion, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
2 large carrots, diced
1/2 cup white wine
3/4 cup chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon oregano
2 sprigs thyme
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

For the mashed potatoes:

1. Cut your potatoes into uniform cubes. Throw them into a pot, cover with water, and boil. The potatoes are done when you can easily spear one with a fork (about 15 minutes maybe?)


2. Strain and put your potatoes back in the pot. Mash your potatoes...I usually use the back of a rice paddle, because that's the best tool I have. Then, add your milk (or you could do cream), and add your seasonings (butter would be great too).

Don't do what I tried. I thought I could save time by blending the potatoes. I've never tried this before, and I will never do it again, because it results in gooey stuff. Turns out the blades are turning too fast, it releases the starches in the potato cells and ruins it. Poo.


For the chicken and ragout:

1. Optional: Place your crushed crackers, or flour in a dish. Slice your chicken and dip in the crumbs/flour until fully coated. Heat some oil in a pan, and cook the chicken over high or medium-high heat. After a few minutes, check to see if the bottoms of the meat is browned. Go for a dark golden brown. Flip and cook for a few more minutes.

So, I say that this part is optional because while the chicken was crispy and tasted good, it didn't stay crispy after you make the ragout. Next time, I'd just cook the chicken as it is.


2. Remove the chicken from the pan. Add your onions (and more oil if you need it) and cook until nicely browned. This will take about 2 minutes, and you should stir every so often.

3. Add the celery and carrots. Cook for a few minutes.


4. Add the wine, chicken stock, and seasonings. Simmer the sauce until it was reduced to half. This didn't make a lot of sauce...so if you want a lot, add more stock and wine. I only used 3/4 cup of stock because that's what I had on hand.


Done! I liked the sauce a lot, thought the breading was unnecessary, and cried at my mashed potatoes. I'd make it again with some more adjustments.

Vietnamese-style Mussels with Basil

My mom taught me how to make Vietnamese-style mussels. Lien, I don't remember if you eat seafood, but I figure since you live in the Caribbean, you'd have access to lots of yummy, fresh seafood. This meal was very cheap for us...we bought the mussels frozen, and bought the basil from a Viet market...so the dinner came to $15 total and it fed five people. It was a bit too much though, because all we ate was rice and a ton mussels. We made a double-batch of the recipe for five people, but I think that one recipe could feed around 6 people if you have side dishes.

Vietnamese-style Mussels with Basil

2 pounds of mussels, frozen and in the half-shell
1 large bunch of Vietnamese basil (other types of basil would probably be fine)
1/2 head of garlic
3 chilies
3 tablespoons of oil
1 1/2 tablespoons of oyster sauce



1. Pluck leaves off the stems on your basil, then wash.

2. Give your frozen mussels a quick rinse. The instructions on the box said that you can cook mussels when they are still frozen.


3. Roughly chop your garlic and slice your chili thinly.


4. Heat your oil in a large wok. When the oil is hot, add your garlic.

5. Dump the mussels in all at once and immediately stir-fry for 1 minute. You have to be careful of any remaining water clashing with the hot oil. (I tried to take pictures of this step but they were all blurry and steamy).

6. Cover your wok with a lid and let your mussels cook for another minute.

7. Add your basil, chili, and oyster sauce. Stir-fry until the basil is wilted.


All done! Sorry, we were too busy eating to take a picture of the final result...

Carnita's Pizza (idea from Todo un Poco)

So for those of you know me pretty well you know that I used to work at this place called Todo Un Poco which is this really great restaurant in Elk Grove that serves Italian and Mexican food. Seriously they make amazing Mexican food, and the Pizzas are super creative, the Italian is better catered by Marie (the owner) for some reason though. Anyways, she makes this one pizza that has beans, carnitas, onions, salsa, Jalapenos, Cilantro and as the menu says "it is the only pizza that comes with the side of lemon."

Doesn't that sound amazing?!

Now I have decided that I want to try and perfect it. It is rather hard to do so far. The best I've come up with is this recipe, I used different ingredients in mine here since I was shopping at Trader Joe's before I made this, but this recipe has the one I like the best and it makes a difference too so don't say I am crazy!

1 Boboli pizza crust
1 can of refried beans. I haven't found the perfect ones yet so your choice. Trader Joe's were pretty good.
1 package of Trader Joe's carnitas. I will post a recipe here though once I learn to make my own!
1 cup Mozzarella cheese
1 sauteed onion
Jalapenos (pickled preferably) so how ever many you want.
1 handful of cilantro leaves
fresh salsa of your choice (I have yet to make my own salsa, so for now I like La Victoria medium taco sauce the best)
1 lemon sliced in 8ths

Pretty much you just preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Then you warm up the beans (on the stove over medium, stir occationally so they don't burn!) and carnitas (Trader Joe's has instructions on the package it is just like 2-3 minutes in the microwave and then you shred it). Saute your onion after you slice it up. Look at some of the past recipes for how to saute. You just stick it in the pan with a couple tablespoons of olive oil and then stir them around until they start to get limp. Then you pile everything on the pizza in the order I listed it. Just stop once you get to the cilantro because from the cilantro on you put it on after you bake the pizza.

So then pop it in the oven and let it cook for about 10 minutes, till the crust is starting to brown a little bit and you can start to lift up the side without the whole middle just sagging.

Take it out and sprinkle the cilantro on. Then slice ti and let everyone put on their own salsa and lemon. Yum Yum.

Here are some pictures Chris was kind enough to take :)